Maine: Rule change could reduce welfare for some immigrants

12/27/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update December 29th: Be sure to see Daniel Greenfield’s article on Somalis and welfare in Maine at Frontpage magazine.

In 2009 we wrote a post which has become one of our most-visited posts at RRW (Tenth most visited with 9,088 views). It is entitled, ‘Somali Migration to Maine: it’s the welfare magnet, stupid.’ I’ve wondered since then what Maine was doing with its giveaways that made it so attractive. This article in ‘The Portland Daily Sun’ gives us some hint.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a rule change to bring Maine’s welfare program in line with federal guidelines that require 5 years of residency before a legal immigrant (non-citizen) can access the program and of course a legal outfit is challenging the proposed rule. (Refugees get welfare right away, see our ‘fact sheet’ for more on how that works).

The Portland Daily Sun (emphasis mine):

A legal advocacy group has warned city and state officials that a proposed rule change at the Department of Health and Human Services could cut off benefits to members of Maine’s immigrant population.

Robin Merrill, a senior policy analyst with Maine Equal Justice Partners, met with members of the Portland City Council and the legislative delegation on Monday and talked about a proposed rule change that could cause some members of the immigrant community to lose general assistance.

“This would be devastating for Portland and for Lewiston,” Merrill said.

The rule being proposed by DHHS would block anyone from receiving general assistance if they do not qualify for federal assistance, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Maine Food Supplement program, because of citizenship status.

The rule change was proposed to align Maine’s public assistance programs with federal ones, according to DHHS, and the federal government does not provide coverage for legal non-citizens until five years after their arrival. The state will no longer fund general assistance for that population, DHHS said, though municipalities may still use their portion to assist them. [Newly resettled refugees get all the available federal government programs right away—ed]

DHHS will hold a public hearing on the rule change on Jan. 10 at its Augusta office, and written public comment will be accepted until Jan. 24.

Here is the website for the Maine DHHS. I did a quick search and didn’t find a reference to this meeting, but if you are a Mainer, and wish to comment, call them!

Related story: Earlier this month Gov. Paul LePage charged that there is extensive welfare fraud going on in Maine, and here a women’s group criticizes the governor for saying such a dreadful thing about poor innocent people in Maine. Just for fun I typed the words ‘Maine fraud’ into our search function and up popped pages of posts with Maine fraud stories—food stamp, medicaid, housing, etc.

Portland, ME: Do African immigrant-entrepreneurs benefit Maine economy?

10/26/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know how many times lately I’ve seen stories like this one (especially as the push is on for Congress to get the amnesty bill done), but frankly the premise that immigrants are growing businesses faster and with more success than Americans makes no sense to me.

26-year old Somali woman owns a grocery store in Portland. How many 26-year old Americans have the money to open such an enterprise? Photo Bangor Daily News

How does a Somali with a small grocery or African trinket shop in Portland stay afloat? Is it done with extensive government supported help like micro-loans, or other special loans? Is there a little money-transfer operation going on in the back room? I can definitely see how immigrant-owned and managed convenience stores survive by tapping into the lucrative fraud of the Food Stamp program.

But, has someone done a study to back-up this oft-repeated claim that immigrants run stores/restaurants better and with more economic success than Americans?

Here is the story that got me wondering about this again, from the Bangor Daily News (emphasis mine):

PORTLAND, Maine — As the rest of Maine’s business community struggled through the Great Recession and its recovery, one sector of the local economy remained relatively unscathed and could, with the proper support, provide the state with a much-needed economic boost, according to experts.

Maine’s immigrant-owned businesses — situated mostly in the retail and food-service sectors — were for the most part insulated from the effects of the recession because their communities serve as a dedicated customer base, one that continued to grow throughout the recession, according to Charles Colgan, a professor at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service. Maine’s foreign-born population has grown by 16.5 percent in the last 11 years, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

“They may have played a larger role in the business sector over the last few years than you would think, given the size of the stores and businesses,” Colgan said.

Though hard data isn’t available, Colgan suspects that immigrant-owned businesses in southern Maine’s retail sector are faring better than the state’s retail sector as a whole. He estimates that perhaps half of the newly established small retail businesses in Portland over the last few years may be immigrant-owned.

Immigrant-owned businesses also hold untapped potential that, given the right tools and a concerted effort, could help the state bounce back from the recent economic slump, according to Claude Rwaganje, founder of Community Financial Literacy in Portland.

There is lots more, read it all.

Rwaganje’s Community Financial Literacy is a modest operation taking in about $110,000 annually (Form 990 here). Rwaganje takes home about half of that in salary and benefits. Funds come from these donors.

Apparently the Portland Chamber of Commerce is interested in doing a study, but I sure would like to know if anyone (without a political bias!) has done a study of this sort. Please let me know if you know of such a study!

For new readers: We have dozens and dozens of posts about Maine. Just type ‘Maine’ into our search function. But, a 2009 post continues to be one of our most-read posts over the years—-Maine the welfare magnet.

Maine: Somali youth sentenced to 8 years for raping woman; no prospect for rehabilitation says judge

06/11/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I missed the sentencing story last month for the Somali teen who was convicted of breaking into a middle-aged woman’s home and raping her as she slept.

We have previously reported on Mohammed Mukhtar’s case, here.

From The Examiner:

On Tuesday, Mohammed Mukhtar, 18, was sentenced in Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court to eight years in prison for breaking into a 50-year-old woman’s apartment in Portland, and raping her as she slept.

Judge Richard Mulhern said: “This was a terrible assault on a sleeping, helpless victim,” and that Mukhtar has “no prospect for rehabilitation.”

Mukhtar pleaded guilty last month to gross sexual assault, burglary and aggravated criminal trespassing.

The Examiner then jumps to an earlier Portland Press Herald story:

Mukhtar, who had sought to be tried as a juvenile rather than an adult, listened to the judge’s words through a Somali interpreter. He showed no reaction other than occasionally wiping his hands over his face as a photographer tried to take his picture.

His attorney, Jonathan Berry, told the judge that Mukhtar wants to return to Africa but that his client otherwise had nothing to say at the hearing. Berry had said previously that deportation could prove difficult since the United States has no diplomatic relations with Somalia. [Actually they are wrong, he can be deported—ed]

“Based on the pattern of antisocial behavior he’s demonstrated so far, I think the only thing the youth would add is more offenses over the course of time. I’ve seen no remorse by Mr. Mukhtar from his actions so far. I see no prospect of rehabilitation,” Mulhern said. “I think it’s simply a matter that society needs to be protected from Mr. Mukhtar for a period of time.

For new readers we have resettled more than 100,000 Somali refugees to cities large and small in the US over the last 25 years. See one of the most widely read posts here at RRW. In three years since 9/11 ( Bush years 2004, 2005, 2006) the number of Somalis arriving topped 10,000 per year. Those refugees then began bringing in the family (chain migration!) until 2008 when shock of shocks! the State Department discovered that as many as 30,000 Somalis had lied about their kinship and weren’t related at all. The State Department then closed the “family reunification” program for Somalis. It has recently been re-opened for new and legit family members, but they have no intention of finding and deporting the liars.